Antioch Covenant Church

God’s Holy Nation

1 Peter 2:9-10 (Part 3 of 4)

“But you are a holy nation…” vs.9

National Pride

This afternoon is the Women’s World Cup soccer match final with the USA going against Japan. If you watch you will undoubtedly here that famous chant: U-S-A! U-S-A! Well, at least on our end, right? Things like sporting events, the Olympics, etc. bring out the idea of national pride.

The National Research University Higher School of Economics put out a report on national pride. You can find it at: http://www.hse.ru/data/2015/04/28/1098372529/62SOC2015.pdf

It’s 2015 survey was based on a database that contains data on 215 variables obtained from 45993 respondents in 36 countries, regions, and ethnic groups (further referred to as “countries” for the sake of brevity). It is meant to gauge national pride and the results are the top ten countries whose people have the most national pride. There are:

1. United States
2. Ireland
3. Canada
4. Australia
5. New Zealand
6. South Africa
7. Venezuela
8. Austria
9. Great Britain
10. Switzerland Honorable Mention: Chile

Worst: East Germany

This is our 3 sermon in a series of 4 where we learn how God sees us, first as a chosen people, second as a royal priesthood, and now third, as a holy nation. If you are able, will you please stand as we read God’s Word from 1 Peter 2:9-10:

Read Passage – 1 Peter 2:9-10

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Truly Set Apart?

As we have studied this book of 1 Peter, we have seen how Peter emphasizes again and again the idea of being holy. We have mentioned how holy is the idea of being completely separate, no confusion with anything or anyone else or any other god and set apart. Holiness is a tough subject to grasp completely because we might struggle with the idea that we are holy. Can we really be holy? Pure? Set apart? If you are like me, you try to be a completely devoted follower of God but inside we know that we don’t meet the standard. We know our inward thoughts, our struggle with sin, pride, and the idea of truly being loved by God because we don’t always feel holy or that we can live up to that standard and expectation. Is it possible to be holy and still sin?

The Holy Nation of God…

I think the answer is yes, but it takes embracing this concept of seeing ourselves the way God sees us and that means grasping the notion that God sees all those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are a holy nation of God. This concept is one that goes way back in ho story to the time of the Israelites. As Moses is leading the nation of Israel, God gives Moses standards and values to follow. He explains to Moses his view of the Israelites and his expectations of them. He tells Moses and the people in Deut. 7:6:

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.” Deut. 7:6

That thought is God’s desire for the Israelites and it carries on and really comes into complete fulfillment in the New Testament with the work of Christ. There is a shift that happens through the work of Christ. It goes from being about the nation of Israel to the church. Israel still plays an important role in history but the real focus of God becomes the church, the bride of Christ. It goes from being about the nation of Israel to being the people of God, or, the holy nation of God, the church.

Now comes the tough part, understanding what that looks like and how that is implemented in our lives. Let’s look three ways that we live differently because we are the holy nation of God.

• Think Differently

The first thing we do as a holy nation is that we think differently than the world thinks. There is a reason we think differently, we find that in verse 10a:

“Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God…” vs. 10a

You might want to circle that last part, we are “the people of God.” Our culture today is filled with the thinking that people are basically good and that sin is a kind of passe way of thinking. Much of the New Age and modern philosophies are not willing to admit that we have sin. Thinking differently from our world knows that sin is real, it is part of who we are, and that we cannot move forward without admitting our sin and getting right with God.

Ex. –Buddhists do not regard man as sinful by nature of ‘in rebellion against god’. Every human being is a person of great worth who has within himself a vast store of good as well as evil habits. The good in a person is always waiting for a suitable opportunity to flower and to ripen. Remember the saying, ‘There is so much that is good in the worst of us and so much that is bad in the best of us.’

Buddhism teaches that everyone is responsible for his own good and bad deeds, and that each individual can mold his own destiny.

-New Age view: There is no sin, only misunderstanding of truth.

We think differently. We believe that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Are thoughts are to bring glory to God, not ourselves. That is why Jesus said in the Sermon On The Mount in Matt. 6:33:

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33

Part of being the holy nation of God is that we recognize that we are not holy in and of ourselves but we are holy in God, through Jesus Christ and his work, and we live to glorify God, not ourselves.

• Live 100% to God

A second aspect of being the holy nation of God is that we live 100% to God. This is the idea that we cannot be half-hearted or only give ourselves partially to God. It’s living the example that Jesus set by giving ourselves to God 100%. Verse 9 gives us insight into why we would choose to live this way, it says:

“…that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” vs. 9b

We believe we were in darkness. Darkness because of our sin and our separation from God. God says that he has a plan for our life and that the plan is meant to help us be complete. Another way of stating that is that when we live according to God’s ways we “flourish.” To flourish means to grow well or to be in health or even to be more healthy. All of us could say we want to be more healthy, to be growing in health. Everything God encourages us to live by, commands us to follow, and urges us to put into our life is meant to bring us to a flourishing way of living. The odd thing about this is that the only way we can achieve this is to give ourselves to God and his ways, to realize that we cannot do it ourselves. Jesus states in Matthew 16:24:

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24

The way to achieve this is to know God, his ways and trust, trust 100%, that his ways are the best for us. Many times we rely on our own thinking and that can lead us astray. In Proverbs Solomon wrote:

“There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” Prov. 14:12

Here is the thing, we think we know what is best. In fact, in many ways it seems very logical and right to us. We don’t see the destructive path that it leads us down. But God’s ways are life and light and health. The ways we know those ways is by reading His word, the Bible.
Ex. Partying and drinking – The world has fooled itself into believing that getting drunk is fun and has no real consequences. Issues: Drunk driving, alcoholism, broken families, etc.

• Show Itself a Responsible Model

And the third aspect of being a holy nation is that we show we are that holy nation by being a responsible model. It’s letting our light shine before others so that they can see God and his good ways. In our passage in verse 10 it says:

“Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God, once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.…” vs. 10

Here is the key to living out being a responsible model, you can circle it at the end of verse 10, it’s “you have received mercy.” Mercy is compassion and forgiveness shown to someone who has offended you. We have received God’s mercy. He has forgiven us and has compassion on us even when we turn our back on him, even when we don’t follow his ways, even when we go completely against what he wants and says.

KEY: We give mercy because we have received mercy.

We forgive because we have been forgiven.

We love because we have been loved.

We extend peace because we have been given peace.

We humble ourselves the way Christ humbled himself for us. The world should see us differently.

We are to model God’s ways. 1 Peter 2:12 says:

“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” 1 Peter 2:12

Ex. I saw this really lived our a few weeks ago. We all saw on the news that terrible killing that took place in South Carolina. A young man took the lives of 9 people who were at church praying, including the pastor of the church. As I watched the news the next few days, it was amazing to see the attitude of the people of that church ,the forgiveness shown by the body of believers who had lost loved ones and their pastor. They were modeling what a holy nation of believers looks like even amidst their horrific circumstances. One of the interesting things was to listen to the amazement of the reporters on how these people were handling their tragedy.

A holy nation is a church who chooses to: think differently, live 100% to God, and to model to the world what mercy grace and forgiveness looks like and what a flourishing Christian life looks like.

The Unmentioned Bible

This week we had the opportunity to visit the Harry S. Truman library in Independence, Kansas. One of the exhibits was to see the office where he worked. They had taken out a wall and we were able to see the exact place he worked. One thing that stood out was a letter and metal he kept on his desk from some parents who had lost a son in the war. They letter was painful and hurtful but he kept it to remind him of the importance and severity of the decisions he made. On one sign they had a legend of all the things on his desk. One thing they didn’t list on the legend but was right there, closest to where he sat, was his Bible. Truman was a Godly man who spent time in prayer and seeking God and what God would have him do. Many still debate his decisions but I saw a man who humbled himself and sought God and wanted that to be the rule for his decision making. Too bad they didn’t put that on the legend of the things on his desk.

Communion

Today we celebrate communion. We remember the price that Christ paid for our sins. The great thing is that Christ fulfilled the law of the Old Testament so that it is not just Israel that is God’s chosen people, but we are to and we, the church are his holy nation.

Royal Priesthood
1 Peter 2:9-10 Pt. 2
“But you are a royal priesthood…” vs. 9b

Royalty
There is a story about an old missionary couple who had spent their lives working in Africa. They were returning to New York City to retire. They had no pension, their health was broken, and they were discouraged and afraid. When they went down to the wharf to board the ship, they discovered that they were booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from a big game hunt.
When they boarded the ship, no one paid any attention to them. Then they watched the fanfare as the President arrived, with the band playing and people waiving and straining for a glimpse of the great man.

As the ship moved across the ocean, the old missionary said to his wife, “Dear, something is wrong. Why should we have given our lives in faithful service for God in Africa all these years, and yet no one cares about us? Here this man comes back from a big game hunt, and everybody makes much over him.” His wife replied, “Dear, you shouldn’t feel that way. Try not to be bitter about it.” But he said, “I just can’t help it. It doesn’t seem right.”

As the boat neared America, he became more depressed. When the ship docked, a band was waiting to greet the President. The mayor of New York plus a bunch of national leaders were there. The papers carried the story on the front page. But no one noticed the missionaries, as they slipped off the boat and went to find a cheap flat and to look for work.

That night the man’s spirit broke. He felt that God had abandoned them. It just wasn’t fair. “We don’t have anyone to help us and no where to go,” he told his wife. “Why doesn’t God meet our need?” His wife replied, “Why don’t you go into the bedroom and talk to the Lord about the whole thing?”

A short time later he came out of the bedroom, but now his face was happy. His wife asked what happened. He said, “I told the Lord the whole thing. I told Him that it’s not fair. I told Him how I was bitter because the President received this tremendous homecoming, when no one met us when we returned home. And you know, as I finished, it seemed as though the Lord put His hand on my shoulder and said simply, “But, you’re not home yet.” (There are several versions of this story. This one is from Ray Stedman, Jesus Teaches on Prayer [Word], pp. 30-31.)

Read Passage – 1 Peter 2:9-10
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Without A King
In the theocratic world of the OT Jewish nation, the priesthood was established with the purpose of being the highest ranking official of the people. The ideal for them was to have not king but God himself and then the priesthood was to serve as the mediator and overseer of the people. God made it pretty clear that was what he wanted and what was best for them. He said in Exodus 29:45-46:

“Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God…” Exodus 29:45-46

Sometimes you might wonder why the O.T., especially the book of Exodus is filled with all those laws and regulations and the reason is that God was establishing himself as the king and the priests as the ones who would monitor and watch over the people. Many of those laws and regulations are given directly to the priests so they would know exactly how to make sure things were handled properly.

God has always wanted people to recognize Him as king of their life. But he has always given us freewill to make that decision as well. We even sing phrases like “King of my life I crown thee now” or “You are my king (from Amazing Love).”

Corruption of the Priesthood
Here’s where thing went awry and fell apart: the priesthood became corrupt. You might remember the priests received no land in The Promised Land. They were told that God would be their inheritance but as is the case with man, we need things more tangible and concrete to call our own and that doesn’t stop with the priests as well.

Over time the priesthood became more corrupt and eventually it got to the point where it borders not only on abuse, but it doesn’t’ look or act Godly either. As we move into New Testament time and Jesus is on the scene, he points out the hypocrisy in who they are and even calls them on it. He says about them in Matt. 23:25:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” Matthew 23:25

They look the part on the outside. They are wearing all the right clothes, saying things that sound good, and making sure they play the part. But…behind the scenes and inwardly, they are not only living a lie, they are not the representation of God that they were called to be. It’s interesting to note that the only people Jesus ever really comes down on is the priesthood.

Establishing a Royal Priesthood
It came to a point where the priesthood wasn’t being effective or even being what God wanted. Really it was time to establish a new priesthood. Here’s what takes place for this new priesthood to be established: Jesus Christ. God sent his son and it’s through him and the work he did on the cross that this new priesthood is established. It gets better. What I like about this is this new priesthood he calls “royal.” Verse 9b:

“But you are a royal priesthood…” vs. 9b

What is royal? The dictionary defines it as:
A. of kingly ancestry
B. of, relating to, or subject to the crown
C. being in the crown’s service

For us to really comprehend the magnitude of what God is saying to us here, we are going to look at what God is saying to us about how we live by looking back at the responsibility of the priesthood God established in the Old Testament and put the new addition and /or blessing of being “royal” with it. It all comes down to three areas of our lives.

1. Characterized by Holiness
First, the priesthood was supposed to be characterized by its holiness. You may remember that part of Peters call from 1 Peter 1:15 is for the New Testament church is to be holy:

“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do…” 1 Peter 1:15

To remind you, holiness is: to be completely separate, no confusion with anything, anyone else or any other god. It is saying that He stands apart and above everything else.
The priesthood in the Old Testament was to be characterized by not being like everyone else. They were meant to be separate and to stand above or apart from everything else. Not having land or material things was not a punishment or meant to deprive them of things, it was meant to help them rely on God, lean on God, and stand above others, not in an arrogant way but in a Godly way.

So here me out on this but many people feel that if they follow God they have to give up material things or what many people might say are the good things in life. No, the call is to make God king of your life and to be set apart for him. That means we keep material things in perspective and not make them our hearts desire and our main thoughts. Doing that keeps us looking for what is to come as Peter points out in 2 Peter 3:11-12:

“You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” 2 Peter 3:11-12

Being characterized by holiness means that we find joy in this life and pleasure in the things that God has provided for us but that our ultimate desire and ultimate goal is to spend eternity with him. That attitude can only come about when we set ourselves apart for God. The real challenge for the old priesthood was finding their worth in God and in him being their king, not in material things. They couldn’t do it. They wanted the material things of wealth, power, and prestige over God and it eventually took over their lives.
Our Challenge: What things are we putting too much worth in and allowing to take the place of God? i.e. money, relationships, job, power, a hobby, a person, etc.

There is a kind of character that flows from knowing you’re characterized by holiness. There’s a kind of moral character and being and style. There’s a kind of character quality that flows from knowing being characterized by holiness.

2. Access To God
A second thing the Old Testament priesthood has and that is ours as well is access to God. In Exodus it describes the clothing the priests would wear to enter the holy place, it says in Exodus 28:4:

“These are the garments they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban and a sash. They are to make these sacred garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so they may serve me as priests.” Exodus 28:4

A priest gets in. A priest comes into the inside. If you’re going to a place where you want access, you’d better look good. This is true, of course, for the priests. The priests of the Old Testament did not go before the Lord in jeans and sneakers. The priests wore the most beautiful and most gorgeous garments in the whole country. They were symbolic, just like your tux is a symbol.
Ex. You’re invited to go visit the Queen of England. How do you dress?
Ill. The time I was invited to visit…

Now I think we have a clue in the story of Christ’s death that gives us some insight into how Christ’s work changes the priesthood and opens it up to the royal priesthood that Peter is talking about. It comes in Mark 15:38:

“The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” Mark 15:38

As soon as Christ has died, the old priesthood is put aside and I believe that the tearing of the curtain has significance to this end; the old priesthood is put aside, the curtain is torn and it is no longer the “priests” that can enter but all can come in who claim Jesus Lord and Savior of their life. The central wonder of the gospel is we have access to the central height of the universe. Another way to put it is we have access as priests to love, serve, and commune with God. The priests are no longer the mediator, the go between, Jesus is the mediator and we are the priests that can go straight to God. This is awesome news.

3. Offers Sacrifices
And thirdly, the priesthood of the Old Testament were the ones called to make the sacrifices. The two jobs of the priests in the OT that are still what we are to do today
1. Be advocates for God – the came to the God on the peoples behalf
2. Led in worship. The worship services and the sacrifices.
The Old Testament goes into great detail in describing the sacrifices and how they were to be performed. We look back at those and get overwhelmed with all they had to do. They had sacrifices for everything and we can’t fathom the idea of offering all those animals and first fruits and then having to atone for all the things we have done wrong. But that was a way of life for them. David talks about this in Psalms 54:6:

“I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, LORD, for it is good.” Psalm 54:6

But the good news is, and it all points back to Jesus, Jesus paid the whole sacrifice. No more animals, no more grain offerings, none of the things the priesthood of Old Testament had to offer or perform, Jesus takes care of the whole thing. But here is the new take on the offering of sacrifices by the priesthood, we are to offer sacrifices, but not like in the Old Testament, Christ has made those sacrifices new and they are different;. Hebrews 13:15 says:

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.” Hebrews 13:15

The royal priesthood offers sacrifices: sacrifices of praise. And if we continue on into verse 16 it also says:

“And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Hebrews 13:16

So the New Testament royal priesthood has two jobs as well:
1. Be advocates for God by singing his praises
2. Be people who do good so that others see God though our good works.

John Wesley, theologian and author, said:

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
John Wesley

Jesus the High Priest
One last thing about we, the church, being a priesthood of believers; we have a high priest. The high priest was the chief of all the priests. The one allt he other priest took their cures from, reported to, and looked to for leadership and guidance; Jesus is the high priest. Hebrews 14:4 tells us this:

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.” Hebrews 4:14

Jesus was a high priest because he paid the ultimate sacrifice, he atoned for our sins, he enter the holy of holies, and now sits at the right had of the Father. Because Jesus is our great high priest, we’ve got a friend in high places. We’ve got connections in heaven.

Chosen People
1 Peter 2:9-10 (Part 1 of 4)
“But you are a chosen people…” vs. 9a

Lets Make A Deal
Parody if the TV show Let’s Make A Deal. Ron will pick people from the congregation to win prizes trying to avoid a “zonk.”

Round 1 Flowers Kettle Corn Zonk
Round 2 Chocolate Ornaments Zonk
Round 3 Starbucks $5.00 Zonk

In life we have choices. Some are easy, some more difficult and sometimes we have to really consider what we choose. God has choices too. Today, we are going to look at one of the greatest passages of Scripture and in it, God reveals one of his choices. This passage is the first in a four part series. If you are able, please stand as we read 1 Peter 2:9-10.

Read Passage – 1 Peter 2:9-10
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are t he people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Identity Issues
Peter is addressing the church in this book and the church is at an interesting point in history. They went from a Jewish identity, both national and religious, to Christian. Really they were struggling to understand who they were, what their lace in the world is and what their place in history is. Who were they and what was that to look like? What was their identity?

We have built within us the desire to belong and to be a part of something. People try to fill that with lots of other things, jobs, hobbies, etc. We call ourselves by our occupation, by our educational status, Dr. etc., by our religious affiliation, by our allegiance to a sports team, a political party, etc. You get the idea. It may help us to quickly review where the Israelite people were and why this was important to them.

• Old Testament
First, let’s go way back in the Old Testament. You recall that the Israelites were not a people but were growing as a people under the Egyptian rule as slaves. They found their identity in their oppression and then God raises Moses to lead them out of slavery and into a Promised Land. They were in slavery for 4000 years and then wandered in the dessert for 40 years before they take over a land God had given them as his chosen people. God said about them in verse 10:

“Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” vs. 10

They were an established people because of God and through God. In this time God made covenant with men like Abraham, Moses, and David. As they progress in their history in this new land they have kings that lead them close to God as some points abut mostly away from God. The kingdom splits and eventually both halves fall and are overtaken by other peoples. I would say that this happened because they failed to find their identity in God.

• No Affiliation
A second phase happens after the kingdom falls. While they were a nation God used prophets to give them spiritual direction and correction. Even after wards for a short time. But then we go into a long period of silence. There is no word from God, no prophets, nothing.

It is in this time that they lose their identity. In the 400 years before the time of Christ they are overtaken and ruled by 4 different groups of people. The most significant were the Greeks and then eventually the Romans. Both the Greeks and Romans did everything they could to make them as much like themselves as they could. They were oppressed, ruled, told to speak other languages, worship other Gods, etc. and really, they had no identity of their own.

• New Testament
Then comes the history where Christ is born. Although they don’t see it, and even though they were stilled ruled by the Romans; Christ, his message and his life, drove the Jewish people to unify themselves. Those who choose not to believe that Jesus was the Messiah solidified their efforts against him and really is a key point in the Jewish people reestablishing themselves as a people.

But Jesus really changes everything. A new people is formed or it may be that a new people is reestablished as a people called Christians; followers of Christ. They receive the same charge as the people of God that the Israelites did in the Old Testament; Exodus 19:5-6

“Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Exodus 19:5-6

I would point out one thing at this point. It’s a change in how God deals with people. Before the time of Christ it is important what nation you belonged to in your identity. After the time of Christ it should be noted that God isn’t dealing with nations the way he did in the Old Testament. Now he deals with people individually and more specifically, his church. The church has no national boundaries. It’s not the Irish Christian Church of the Peruvian Christian Church or the American Christian church, etc. No, it’s the church. The Church of Jesus Christ (no, I am not referring to the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons here) but the church of Jesus meaning anyone in the whole world who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior makes up the church. You remember I mentioned in the OT that God made covenant with specific men. Now, he makes his covenant with the church.

Why is this important, because God deals with his church. As his church, you are his chosen. His chosen knows no financial parameters, no land or nation boundaries, no social status, no thing that we use as humans to define or identify ourselves. I believe that this is what God wants from us, to find our identity in Jesus Christ.

You’re Chosen To Be…
With that in mind, God makes an incredible statement here in 1 Peter to us. This passage is so important that I have made it into a 4 part series. Today we are going to look at the first identifier listed in this passage and that is that we are God’s Chosen. You might say great but what does that mean? Good question. Let’s discover what it means to be Gods chosen.

1. His People
First, you are chose to be his people. Peter states in verse 9a:

But you are a chosen people…” vs. 9a

God has given us a choice. Do we or do we not accept his free gift of salvation that comes through his son Jesus Christ. God’s desire is that everyone choose this and accept this gift. (2 Peter 3:9) When we choose Christ and this free gift, and we make his Lord and Savior of our life, we become his chosen. Part of being his people is you receive everything the king offers, his love, peace, protection, etc. Like a ruler of a nation would take care of his people and provide for them and really should want the best for his people, so our king, Jesus Christ, lavishes all he has and all he is on us.

What does being a people of God really entail? The best way to understand this might be through an example from our own lives.
Ex. Let’s use the example of choosing friends. In today’s world we might call that “peeps.” For those who might not use that term it’s a slang way of saying peoples. So, you, our church, are my peeps.  Think about the difference of the relationship of those you consider your friends to those who are acquaintances:
Friends Others/Everyone else
Spend time together See each other once in a while
Share experiences None
Vulnerable Distant
Build relationship None
Deep Care/Concern Casual care/concern
Everything of the left side God wants with you. Are you willing to be God’s peep or would you prefer to have the relationship on the right?

2. With God Forever
The second identifier is when you are chosen you are chosen to be with God forever. God says that he is always with us. Think about it in terms that Doavdi describes to us in Psalm 139:5:

“You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.” Psalm 139:5

This is a really cool picture. It’s a picture of God being in front of us, behind us, in other words surrounding us, and the topper, play on words, is that he even has his hand on top of us, or over us. No matter where you go, what you do, what is happening in your life, good or bad, god is there. You’re chosen. He chooses to be with you. But it gets better. It’s not momentary or at times, it’s always…and forever. Only God can make this promise to you. Only he can keep it.
Ex. I love my wife and can’t spend enough time with her. But, I am human and I have limitations. I can’t be with her 24/7. It’s impossible. I could try to promise that but I can’t keep that promise.

God says he chooses you and you can be with him…forever. He can make that happen. It also means that when we pass from this life, we are still chosen. I love the verse in Matt. 28 that says “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” That is saying that even after this life is done, God says, I still haven’t left you. I am still with you and I still choose you. We make jokes about being at the pearly gates and hoping to get into heaven. This is the assurance that you don’t have to worry about that, god is saying; “I choose him/her. They are mine. Come on in and let’s spend forever together.” Wow! What a promise.

3. An Instrument of Holiness
The third identifier of being chosen is that you are an instrument of holiness. Peter uses the term holy a lot in this book and being chosen is also being chosen to live in holiness; set apart for God and the instrument through which God works. We are changed because of the work of Jesus Christ and through the redeeming work of God. You don’t look the same and don’t act the same. Paul wrote in Col. 3:12:

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Col. 3:12

What he is saying here is that you look different because of who God is and how he is working in you. Remember a few weeks ago when I showed you some pictures of people and their pets who look alike? (Show one or two) The same is true of us. We tend to reflect those we hang around with and spend time with.
Ex. Claudia and Kim

What does that look like? Read that verse again. It looks like compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, etc. Those are thing you can’t have too much of and when you display those, you reflect God. See we look different not just in appearance but in how we treat people and how we act toward them.

4. His Voice, Hands, and Feet
That leads us to the 4th identifier of being chosen and that is that we are chosen to be the voice, hands and feet of God. God chooses us to be the way the gospel and the Word of Jesus is spread through this world.
Ex. AD Jerusalem and the urgency with which the disciples are concerned about spreading the word of who Jesus was.

Do you remember the story of Daniel? The most famous is the lion story but the first story in the book is when Daniel and his buddies are being trained and prepared to be in the king’s service. They are told to eat certain food, the best foods, so they can be as sharp and strong as they can be for the king. They go to the guy responsible for them and ask to only eat fruit and vegetables. The guy is not sure about it but finally gives in and it says after they did this there was a great result, Daniel 1:15:
“At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.” Daniel 1:15

It changed them physically and then what happen? It gave them the opportunity to speak about their God. They could speak about God because they represented God well. We can tell others about God, be his voice, hands and feet, when we represent him well. It’s credibility.
Ex.

The Result of Being Chosen
The second half of this verse contains a picture of what happens as a result fo being chosen and living for God. It says:

“…that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” vs. 9b

In a world of darkness, we reflect his light. Because we were in darkness and have been called out of that, chosen, and because of what Jesus Christ did for us, we reflect his light.
Ex. The Moon has no light in and of itself but it reflects the sun. We reflect the Son, God’s Son.

Building Block or Stumbling Stone?
1 Peter 2:4-8
“…you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house…” vs. 5

Burj Khalifa
The world’s tallest building. The Burj Khalifa opened in Dubai January 4, 2010. At a staggering 2,717 feet tall – more than half a mile high – it easily overshadows the previous tallest building (Taipei in Taiwan is but 1,671 feet tall) and it stands double the height of the renowned Empire State Building.

It accommodates 12,000 people, the Burj Khalifa, built at a cost of $1.5 billion, captured several other world records. Those include:
*Tallest man-made structure: (previously Warsaw radio mast – 2,121 ft);
*Building with most floors: 160 (previously Willis Tower – 108);
*Highest elevator and world’s fastest elevators (40 mph);
*First world’s tallest structure to include residential space;
*Highest outdoor observation deck (on the 124th floor);
*World’s highest mosque (located on the 158th floor);
*World’s highest swimming pool (76th floor);

While most attention focuses on its height, perhaps more important is what lies buried beneath the building. Without a solid foundation, the world’s tallest building would become the world’s longest pile of rubble. Extending 164 feet deep under the Burj Khalifa lies 58,900 cubic yards of concrete weighing over 120,000 tons. It took a year just to build the foundation.

It probably goes without saying but you can’t have a strong and sturdy building without a strong and sturdy foundation. The foundation is important for the longevity of the building and even more important for the safety of the people who are in the building. You want a good building? You lay a great foundation. The same is true life as well, for our lives. If you want a good life, a strong and steady life, one that can stand the turmoil, the rough times, the storms of life, you better have your life built on something that can withstand those things and that is a secure place for you to live. Peter talks about this in 1 Peter 2:4-8. If you are able, please stand as we read this portion of God’s Word.

Read Passage – 1 Peter 2:4-8
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

Foundations
Our foundation determines a lot about what the building will look like and what the building can hold and how it can survive. Peter is making a tremendous statement here. It’s made against the background of the ancient architecture that the people of his time would understand and see in the building around them. He says in verse 5:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone…” vs. 6

Characteristics of a cornerstone.
1. The cornerstone was the first stone laid. It was the first stone laid because all of the dimensions of the rest of the house were projected off of the dimensions of the cornerstone.
2. It had to be the most perfectly cut because it determines what the house will be. The lines of the cornerstone become the lines of the house. It had to be cut perfectly with right angles to the ground then the house will not be at good right angles. If the dimensions and angles of the cornerstone are off, the house is off. If the cornerstone is true, the house is true.
3. It had to be the toughest and strongest stone, because if there was any lack of integrity in the stone, if there were any structural flaws or fissures, if it crumbled in any way, the house, the entire house would be compromised or even lost. It was the one stone on which everything else was really resting.
4. It was usually the largest stone, for all of the above. Therefore, literally, the cornerstone was the most precious stone. It was most precious because, literally, it was the most expensive. It was the most labor-intensive.

Building Block or Stumbling Stone
As you can see from the description, it is a key to having a good and sturdy building. But Peter makes an interesting analogy here, he says that this rock can be one of two things, it can be a building block or it can be a stumbling stone. Let’s look at what Peter means when he points this out to us.
 Stumbling Stone
First, Peter is really clear that for many people this rock thing isn’t such a good thing, in fact, it’s a stumbling stone. Read with me again verse 8:

“A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.” vs. 8

Peter explains here that the stumbling comes because of disobedience. What is disobedience? Really it is distrust. Now remember that Jesus is the cornerstone. The cornerstone is where the whole weight of the building rests and it has to take everything on itself to do its job. So this rock becomes a stumbling stone because you are not resting on it or trusting it will hold the building up. Lots of people say they are a Christian and believe in Christ. Great! But what are they trusting in? What are they resting on, putting their weight on? Being a Christian means you are calling yourself a follower of Christ, you rest your weight and all you are on him. So even though it was in the verse previous to this you can see what Peter was inferring to when you read verse 7:

“But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone…” vs. 7

So get this, you call yourself a Christian but you do not believe it enough to trust and rest and put all you weight on him.
Ex. Building a human pyramid. Putting the strongest, biggest guys on the bottom. Then if the person feels it is okay they climb up on top. Ever see somebody that doesn’t want to climb up on top? They don’t trust the foundation. They don’t think it can hold their weight. They can’t rest being on top.

This was not a new prediction. It was prophesied in the Old testament that this was going to be the case. Isaiah said in verse 8:14:

“He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” Isaiah 8:14

Ex. Peter in AD Jerusalem after the conversion of Saul

To modern-day Israel, Jesus remains a stumbling stone. For much of the world Jesus is stumbling block. What is unfortunate, is that this has eternal consequences. Peter doesn’t just say this to the people who don’t believe. Let me remind you that Peter is writing to the church. He is saying this to us too. If you know today that you’re really not a Christian, but you’re really not sure what you’d have to do, here’s the start. Trust in him. If you can’t, Jesus is still a stumbling stone.

 Building Block
Luckily, Peter doesn’t just stop with that thought. Let’s look at the good news in verses 7-8:

“’See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’ 7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.” vss. 7-8

So let’s look at this from two angles. First individually. Notice that is says “See I lay a stone…” That is God speaking. God is building his house.

Individually you have a decision to make. Do you trust God and his plan and his will for your life. If you do, then you make Jesus the cornerstone of your life. And get this, he calls that a precious stone. Why? It was most precious because, literally, it was the most expensive. It was the most labor-intensive. It was not unusual for a builder to spend as much time finding the cornerstone, quarrying the right kind of stone, and cutting the cornerstone perfectly as the whole rest of the building. God wants us to have the very best. Anything less won’t do. Anything else will not be able to handle all that is coming your way. And…to most parents, what is the most precious thing? Your child. They are invaluable. God gave us the most valuable thing he had, his Son. Are you willing to build your house on him. No one can make that decision for you. You can’t make it for someone else. It’s an individual decision.

The second part of this is that it is corporate as well. God builds his church not with buildings and materials but with people. This is in direct opposition to what the Jews believed. They believed the Temple was the most important thing. But remember in Acts God gives his Holy Spirit to live in us,. The temple is no longer the dwelling place of God, ours hearts are. But collectively, we are the being built together. Eph. 2:21-22:

“In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” Eph. 2:21-22

Collectively we are the bride of Christ and the house of the Lord. Peter portrays the fellowship of the church as a living, spiritual house, founded upon Christ. He is the same disciple who was told by Jesus, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church”. Peter was the first post-resurrection leader of the Church, a key living stone, but he always understood that the foundation and cornerstone of the Church was Christ. Peter understood his call was to build the church.

Bringing the Dead to Life
Now let’s end by focusing on one last interesting thing that Peter says in this passage. He calls Jesus the Living Stone. Obviously this might not make sense in a logical way. Stones are inanimate objects. They have no life in them. They are just a mass of stony material. No life. No breath. No nothing. In a sense you can say they are dead because they have no life in them. Paul wrote in Col. 3:13:

“You were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ.” Col. 2:13

Here is the amazing thing about this; we were dead when we lived in our sinful state. In other words, you were as lifeless as a rock. But that changes. What was dead can come to life. Jesus proved that when he raised Lazarus. He proved that when he conquered death. Dead rocks can come to life. No really. Remember in Luke 19 when Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem and the Pharisees tell Jesus to stop his disciples from shouting praises that Jesus responds by telling them that if they don’t the rocks will cry out. Jesus brings life to dead things. Now here is the really good news and it’s in verse 5:

“…you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house…” vs. 5

Just as Jesus is the living stone, you, also, like living stones are being built into a spiritual house. We take on the character of our foundation. If you truly trust in Jesus, he becomes and is the building block of your life.

Jesus is so precious, everything else that used to look important becomes eternally and utterly worthless. Nothing else matters. Nothing else matters but him. There is nothing you’re scared to death to lose, nothing you’re running scared from. If Jesus becomes the love of your life. If Jesus becomes the love of your life, there’s a freedom unto you who believe he is precious.

Communion

Love Your Neighbor
1 Peter 1:21-25
“…love one another deeply, from the heart.” vs. 22a

Because God Loves You, I Love You
Now I know we have had our greeting time and that is always such a good time. It’s always hard to get you back to your seats. In some ways, that is one of the highlights of our worship time, the greeting and being with each other. But I am going to ask you to stretch yourself right now and do it again. This time though I am adding a twist. As you get up and move around and greet each other, you tell each other “Because God loves you, I love you.” I know this will be tough for some of you but please give it a try. Ready? Go!

Wait for a few minutes for everyone to practice the activity. Corral them back.

Now, I am hoping you’ll share with me your experience. How did it go? What went well? Anyone feel uncomfortable or awkward? Why? What was hard about this exercise?

A theme that runs through the Bible is that we are called to love one another. In our 4 part series on the things that Peter urges us to do in 1 Peter chapter 1, this is the final thing. First he urged us to live with hope, then to be holy, then to fear God, and finally this: to love one another. If you are able, please stand as we read the Word of God from 1 Peter 1:22–2:3.

Read Passage – 1 Peter 1:22-2:3
22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you. 2 1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Fighting In the Church?
It’s difficult to say “I love you” and be honest, be real and to do it without smirking or feeling awkward. It’s also difficult because what do you mean when you say “love.” We have romantic love, brotherly love, erotic love, friendship love, etc. and what you say and how you say it can be misunderstood.
Another reason is that we as people tend to hold grudges, focus on differences, and even the struggles in our relationships so we don’t say “I love you” probably as often as we should. Remember James touches on this in James 4:1 when he says:

“What causes fights and quarrels among you?” James 4:1

What defines the church? What defines our church? Some churches are defined by their push for money, some for size, and some for a certain program. Interestingly enough much of the world looks at the church as a place where there are a lot of disagreements and, yes, fights. Not all out brawls, but arguments and disagreements an sometimes they see the church as a place where people don’t love each other.

Peter is writing to Christians, and he’s saying, “Love one another.” He is saying that love, the love of Christ should be the thing that defines the church.
Ex. Recently in the news there was a church in Washington State where the pastor of the church was accused of being overbearing, abusive, and manipulative and it ended with the pastor resigning and the church being torn apart. It was an ugly scene and one that played itself out in the newspapers and media.
(Show cartoon)

What defines the church?

Loving In the Church
Peter makes a statement in verse 22 where he says:

“…love one another deeply, from the heart.” vs. 22b

Remember he is writing to the Christian church and to Christian people here. Again, let me reiterate that what Peter is stressing here is that love, the love of Christ should be the thing that defines the church.

The challenge here for us might be to really change the way we live and work together as a church so that when people walk through these doors they truly experience the love of Christ. One of the great things about our church is that I believe that people truly do feel loved here. They feel that and they see it in the way we treat one another, the joy that we have in being together and spending time together, and in the way we are inclusive, welcoming new people as if they are old friends we are so happy to see again, even though we just met them.
I do want to point out that Peter urges us to “love one another deeply.” That can take work, that can take time and that can be difficult, but it can happen. Deep means that t can’t be fake, it can’t be superficial, it takes effort, and it’s felt down to the core of who you are, your heart. Now Peter doesn’t just tell us to love one another and then leaves us to figure out how to do it. He lays out some principle for us to follow and then gives us some practical ways to work on it in our life.

Two Basic Principles
First, we are going to look at two principles that we need in our life if we are going to love one another deeply but let me set some bases for what Peter is urging us to do. Peter says in verse 22a:

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other …” vs. 22a

What he means when he says that “you have purified yourselves” is because you’ve been born again, because you have realized that Jesus is the only way to real salvation and forgiveness, because you have given your life to him, because you’re having your very insides purified by connecting with the truth, you have the ability to love one another sincerely. The building block for sincere love among Christians is Christ. That has to be the place to start and that has to be the place from which our love will flow. That comes out in two principles.

1. Love As Family
The first principle is that we are to love as family. A theme that runs through the Bible is the idea that we are family. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. Some churches stress this by calling each other “Brother —“ and Sister —.” That is one way to always keep in mind that we are family. Paul uses these terms often too and in Eph. 6:23 he says:

“Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Eph. 6:23

Notice that Paul calls the church brothers and sisters and that he stresses that it is a love that comes from God. Here is the thing about family, you don’t get to pick your family. None of us have the ability to pick where we are born and who we are born to or even how big our family is. There is a saying:

You can choose your friends but not your family.

That is true and it is somewhat true of the church as well. You can choose where you worship, but technically you cannot choose who else worships there. We are called to love another as family. It’s easy to love friends because you choose them. You choose people you like, people with similar interests and temperaments, and people who usually like you. Family is different. Loving family is a big task. With family, you have to be more understanding, more tolerant, overlook some things, be more forgiving in some ways, and you end up doing things that many other times you would choose not to.
Ex. As an example, I have a relative who for the sake of my family (and health) we will call Joe Smith. If I had a choice, he would probably not be someone I hang out with, be around, or visit. But he is family. So when I go to family reunions I am cordial. I talk with him, joke with him, sometimes laugh at his jokes (sometimes), and even take pictures with him. But…if I had the choice, he is really not my cup of tea. He nitpicks things, criticizes, and says a lot of things I don’t really agree with. Now I am not being insincere around him but I really don’t spend a whole lot of time with him either. Here is the thing: I don’t necessarily like him but I love him. He is my family.

Now I am not saying we have to be that way in church. Remember Peter says to love each other deeply. Love runs deeper and thicker with family. I love my family. I love my church family because our bond is in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. John says in 1 John 4:7-8:

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8

Look around you. This is your family. Your spiritual family. We are called to love one another as family with God being our Father.

2. Grow in Love
The second principle we are urged to commit to is to grow in love. Are you committed to growing? One of the basic definitions of growing is to increase. Applied to the ideal of love: we need to increase our love for one another. Peter uses an example for us in 2:2:

“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation…” 1 Peter 2:2
This is an interesting example that I want to expand on for just a moment. A newborn doesn’t really know too many things. It knows what bothers it, it knows that it likes pleasant quiet and simple things, and it knows when it is hungry. It’s hungry because it needs nutrition, it needs vitamins, and it needs sustenance because it wants to grow. It doesn’t know that it wants to grow but everything in its body says I need milk to grow.
Ill. Show picture of Kal-el
As believers, we don’t always know what we want but we should commit to continual growth. We need to grow. Again, I believe this is a theme that runs through the Bible. As followers of Jesus, we need to commit to growing and especially growing in love. Growing is tough though. You’ve heard for things like growing pains. Though it has been a while, I remember growing and getting taller and having to get used to my body. I would trip on the weirdest things and it got strange when I didn’t fit in some of the same places I used to or clothes that didn’t fit anymore. But your “grow” into it. (Sorry for the pun) 1 Peter 3:18 says:

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 3:18

Ex. My tax preparer. We have just come out of tax season. I don’t know about you, but I want a tax prepare that is up to date on the laws and exemptions so that I pay what I am supposed to but also so that I get back what I am supposed to. I don’t want someone who went to school 20 years ago and said “Oh, that ’s good enough! I don’t need more training and updates.” A good tax-preparer goes to training and updates regularly so their clients benefit the most.
So those are the two basic principles for loving one another.

Two Practical Principles
So how do we do that? Let’s look at two practical principles for us. Things you can do to a daily basis to stretch yourself to love one another deeply.

1. Practice Purity
First, Peter stresses in the first part of verse 22:

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth…” vs. 22a

Now I stated it this way on purpose. I say practice because it is a continual process of cleansing that we are in. we have committed our lives to the saving work of Jesus Christ. We know that that cleanses us from our sins, but, we are not perfect. We continually struggle with sin and it is important for us to regularly cleanse ourselves from that sin. That is one of the great things about communion. It’s a time to stop and remember the work of Christ and confess our sin and start fresh. We only have so much room in our heart and our being. What helps us more than we can imagine is cleansing ourselves of the bad stuff to make room for the good stuff; love. Peter stresses this in 2:1:

“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.” 1 Peter 2:1

This verse really hits home. We all struggle with sin. We all need to confess our sin and ask God to purify us. So Peter lists sins that not only we struggle with, but sins that break apart our relationships and stop us from really loving one another; things like envy, malice, deceit, etc. All of those this hinder us from loving each other.
How: Build in times of confession. Commit to communion Sunday. Commit to pray and times of confession. Maybe even commit to confession daily )(or more often if necessary.)

2. Practice Sincerity
The second practice is to be sincere. This can be tough as well. Peter says in 22a:

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other…” vs. 22a

Once we have purified ourselves, that love that we express needs to be sincere; truthful, and honest. There is a verse that tells us to speak the truth in love. Real love is not over exaggerating the situation or saying something you don’t really mean. Honest and truthful love is sincere and honest. It speaks the truth but only in love so that we don’t hurt and abuse others with our words. I am not saying to lie. I am saying that we can be honest and yet be affirming and encouraging.

Let’s face it; there are things about people we don’t like; things that bug us. Loving as family means we focus on what is good and right and love them because we are called to love them truthfully and whole-heartedly. You might think this is impossible. It’s not. Let me use a verse from Philippians 4:8 on how to do this:

“…whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Phil. 4:8

If we are willing, we can choose to focus on the things that are good ab out people and the things we can affirm.
Ex. I worked a job once where we had performance reviews once a year. Here were the requirements for the reviews. If you said something negative; say it gently. You couldn’t say more than 3 negative things because it would overwhelm the employee and they wouldn’t remember more than that anyway. And, you always had to have at least one positive thing to say. They taught us that everyone has at least one good thing you can point out.

Challenge: What if you applied these principles to your life.
1. If you say something negative, put it gently
2. Commit to not saying too many negative things.
3. Always point out one good thing about someone

Jesus Loves You
So let me end with this final thought; We are called to love because Jesus loves you. He didn’t just die for some, he died for all. All includes you. Jesus loves you. We are called to be more like Jesus and to do what he did. He loved so we are called to love. I mean, let’s face it; we all have difficult things about us to love. We all have our issues. We all have things that some people don’t like about us. We are never called in the Bible to point out others flaws and difficulties. We are called to love. Tim Keller, pastor and author, put it this way:

“The gospel says you are more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe, but more accepted and love than you ever dared hope.” -Tim Keller

So here is the bottom line: Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. (Verse 22)

Defined By Love
Proverbs 10:12
“Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.”

Read Passage – Proverbs 10:12
“Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.”

The Church of Haters?
We are in an interesting time in history and especially the history of the church. I believe that in no other time in history has the church been viewed in the way it is now. We’ve been accused as being haters. We’re accused of hating homosexuals, alcoholics, drug users, other religions, and the list goes on and on. We’re accused of not doing enough for the homeless, for the poor, for those that are hurting, for the hungry, etc. and the list goes on and on.

This has caught us by surprise. We see ourselves much differently and yet this has kind of snuck up on us and in many ways it has baffled us. It’s scary and we don’t like it. It’s not what we want and it’s definitely not how we feel we can best share the good news of Jesus Christ.

You might be asking; Why is this coming up? I think it’s because of the world view the world has of the church. They view us as haters, and what I mean by that is intolerant, unloving, unaccepting, and unforgiving. Now here is the thing, if we are seen as haters we must realize that hatred stirs up conflict. That’s not my idea, that comes straight from the verse we read today in Proverbs. It says that hatred stirs up which means rouses, starts up, and causes conflict. Conflict is basically a strong disagreement that causes anger and angry responses.

Can Opposites Get Along?
Here is an ideal that most people buy into: Everyone has to agree. There is this ideal that someone we must all find a way to be in agreement and if we don’t agree; something is wrong. We all have opinions, we all have our views and we all have our ideas on how things can be improved and get better. Yet, what we see is that that somehow we can’t agree to disagree. That is a phrase we often throw out:

Let’s agree to disagree

That sounds great, doesn’t it? It does but it somehow never really feels good. And, we never really move forward because our differing opinions stop us from working together for a common good.

Evaluating Our Attitude
Here’s where I feel the real issue is: it’s in our attitude. We have to evaluate our attitude. That can go two ways. One, we can evaluate our attitude and see a need to change and move toward unity and love. Or, two, we can evaluate our attitude in a way that solidifies our own views, feel that we are right and that our way is not only the best way, it’s the only way. When we do that, it leads us to begin to judge others negatively. As we judge, we come to the conclusion that we are superior and that leads us to feel safe because “We are right!” and we are going to hold on to that idea and enforce our ways on others.
Ex. Want some examples? O.K. We divide ourselves. It’s Catholic vs. Protestants, or even those tow against Mormon’s. It’s Democrats vs. Republicans, It’s Giants fans vs. Dodger fans or A’s fans, it’s hymns vs. contemporary music, it’s country people vs. city folk, it’s Mello Roos vs. non Mello Roos, I think you are getting the idea.

The fact is that we find all kinds of things to divide us and when we become rigid and uncompromising and somehow we don’t move forward because we insist our way is the only way, the right way. Then, you step back, and realize you have had a part in causing division. And here is the thing, when we cause division, we aren’t being loving people and we aren’t living like Jesus wants us to. We have to change the question and ask: How can I live the life of love that Jesus commands us to live?

Being Defined By Love
How do you get out of this downward cycle of division and opposition and be willing to be defined by love? How can we live more like Jesus and live in the commands that he gave us? We will look at three principles the Bible teaches us to live more in line with the way way that Jesus taught us to be people who are defined by love.

• A Commitment To Peace
First, we must be people who are willing to make a commitment to be people who live in peace. Let’s look again at our verse for today Proverbs 10:12:

“Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.” Prov. 10:12

Hatred is overcome with love and love covers over the wrongs. Here’s where I think it hits us; we have to be willing to love even when we don’t agree and even when it seems we are not will to see eye to eye. I will be honest, this is tough. Love takes work. Differences are not a license for bad behavior. Way to often many people have used their beliefs and “good intentions” as a license to mistreat people. People of peace must be willing to accept differences and let love cover the things they don’t agree with. Let’s go back to something Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:9:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Matt. 5:9

Jesus is saying that our actions reflect who we are and when we are willing to commit to peace, to live as people of peace, it is then that we reflect that we are children of God.

You might be wondering what that looks like. It takes strength to be a peacemaker and strength of character. It might take being a bit more open to people who are different than you. It might be that you have to bite your lip when you feel like berating or asserting your will. It might be having to ask yourself this tough question: Do you want to be right or be loving? I often hear people say something to the effect that they have the right to act a certain way. Hint: It’s usually an inappropriate or negative way. What if you decide to be loving instead. How would that change how you act.
Ex.

• Follow the Example of Christ
The second principle is that we be people who are willing to follow the example of Jesus Christ. Jesus lived in a way that we should strive to follow. 1 John 3:16:

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” 1 John 3:16

It just might be that we become people who live differently. I would say that we have to be people who are humble, honest, and willing to show God’s love. Jesus didn’t use his position and authority to oppress people, he used it as a opportunity to humble himself, to lift them up, and to affirm. Let me use two examples of Jesus with people to help you understand.
Ex. 1 Jesus and the woman at the well – First of all he met, talked to, and interacted with many people society disregarded. Here he talks with a woman who had been married 5 times and is now living with someone. He could have scolded her, told her to go home and move out, and to get her life in life with the Biblical laws. No, he forgives her sins and simple tells her to go and sin no more. He shows her love, respect, and dignity.
Ex. 2 Jesus and the rich young ruler – This is a man who has it all, money, power, and prestige. When he wants to get to heaven Jesus asks him a few questions and then affirms he has done all that the law requires but challenges him to let go of his idol; money. He challenges him to make God his idol not his money. The guy can’t do it. Jesus listens to him and affirms him and wants him to fully trust God. Jesus concern is his relationship with God.

We are challenged to be people like Jesus. Paul said in 1 Cor. 11:1:

“Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” 1 Cor. 11:1

This is not Paul bragging, this is something we should strive to claim as well. Follow me not because of me but because I am living like Jesus says.

• Choose To Live in the Spirit
And the third principle we need to have to be defined as people of love is that we choose to live in the Spirit. This is a conscious decision. It’s the willingness to evaluate our own life, to humble ourselves, to give ourselves completely to God and then to live in the power and strength of the Holy Spirit. There are a lot of passage we could look at but notice Gal. 5:22, most of you might b able to quote it:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love…” Gal. 2:22

Isn’t it interesting that the first attribute listed is love. When we choose to live with the Holy Spirit that lives in us, we first choose to live in love. This can be a tough thing because we like to think that we can handle the things thrown our way. A person who chooses to live in the Spirit chooses not to live in their own power but in the power of God’s Spirit, 2 Tim. 1:7:

“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7
What does that look like in our daily life? It’s taking the time to:
-Stop – take a moment
-Ask – ask God what he wants us to do or how to respond
-Move – only when God leads

Challenge: Join me in choosing to live in the Spirit.

Breaking Down Dividers
Let me end by wrapping up with this thought, we have to be willing to break down the barriers, dividers, and walls that divide us so for the sake of being people who are defined by love. People who love others because God loves them and want them to know him like we do. Bill Hybels, Pastor of a meg-church in Chicago and noted author said:

“We have never locked eyes with someone that did not matter to God” – Bill Hybels

We are part of a rich denomination that desires to see all people come to know Jesus as Savior and to be defined by love. I am honored to be ordained and affirmed by this denomination. Here is our denominations view on this and you can find this on line at www.covchurch.org.

The Evangelical Covenant Church is a rapidly growing multiethnic denomination in the United States and Canada with ministries on five continents of the world. Founded in 1885 by Swedish immigrants, the ECC values the Bible as the word of God, the gift of God’s grace and ever-deepening spiritual life that comes through a faith with Jesus Christ, the importance of extending God’s love and compassion to a hurting world, and the strength that comes from unity within diversity.
The Evangelical Covenant Church is:
Evangelical, but not exclusive
Biblical, but not doctrinaire
Traditional, but not rigid
Congregational, but not independent
Identity and Biblical Mission
We are united by Christ in a holy covenant of churches empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey the great commandments and the great commission: to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to go into all the world and make disciples.

Genuine Faith
1 Peter 1:6-9
“These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith…” vs. 7a

Notable Epitaphs
I am going to give you the epitaph of a famous person and their initials and you tell me on whose gravestone these words are written.

The Entertainer. He did it all. – S.D. Jr. (Sammy Davis Jr.)
The best is yet to come – F.S. (Frank Sinatra)
And away we go – J.G. (Jackie Gleason)
That’s all folks – M.B. Mel Blanc
Everybody loves somebody sometime – D.M. (Dean Martin)
Workers of all lands unite – K.M. Karl Marx
Mother of the modern day civil rights movement – R.P. (Rosa Parks)
61/61. Against all odds – R.M. (Roger Maris)

Ever wonder what motto or saying might sum up your life? Would it be your work? Your family life? Some achievement or accomplishment? How about your faith or relationship with God? Today we are going ot look at what it takes to live a genuine life of faith. We will be looking at 1 Peter 1:6-9. If you are able, please stand as we read God’s Word.

Read Passage – 1 Peter 1:6-9
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

In This…
Notice that our passage today starts with the words “In all this.” You might be think in all what? The reference goes back to what we looked at last week in the first few verses of this book and more specifically what we read in verse 3:

“In his great mercy he has given us new birth…” vs. 3b
Peter wants to make sure that people understand new birth and salvation that comes through Jesus Christ. Peter knows that they will face persecution and resistance but that the most important thing in life is to realize what Jesus Christ has done for each of us and we have the chance to accept that free gift of God. Along with that is the basic understand that just because you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior your life isn’t spared from trials and suffering.

There is a false teaching out there that a lot of people buy into, and that many people have the expectation of, that if you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior you will not have any problems or tough times after that. We need to be clear that accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior is the best thing for your life and that in God we have a peace and inner joy that the world cannot understand or know. We also need to be clear that giving your life to God does not take away or fix all your problems or make you exempt from trials. In many parts of the world becoming a Christian puts your well-being and life in jeopardy.

The Ups and Downs of Daily Life
Here is the truth about life; we all go through ups and downs. And those ups and downs can come at any time. Peter is very clear in this passage that we need to prepare ourselves for those trials that come. He says in verse 6:

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” vs. 6

Notice that there is rejoicing, the good times, but there is also the suffering and grief he mentions, the difficult times. Here is a good rule of thumb to follow; if it is too good to be true, it probably isn’t very accurate. We deal with promises all the time that mislead us in believing that we can have it all and that a certain thing will give it to us. A good example of this is some of the marketing tactics we see on TV and in advertisements.
Ex. Internet emails

So how do we handle the ups and downs of daily life? Let’s turn to the word s of Jesus from John 16:33 to guide us.

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

We turn to Jesus because whatever we are going through, whatever obstacle and difficulty we face, Jesus has already taken care of it, he has overcome any struggle or difficulty that we face. Notice the verb in the verse. It’s not “I can” but “I have.” The victory has already been won.

A Living Genuine Faith Includes
But be careful here, don’t lose focus on what Peter is saying here; he is not focusing on suffering. That is a part of living and we need to be aware of it. What Peter is focusing on is faithful living. In fact, in this passage Peter gives us three practices that we can incorporate into our life so that we are living genuinely in the faith that we claim.

• Continual Refinement
The first practice that we need to not only be aware of but also realize that this is a continual thing in our life is refinement. Notice the words in verse 7:

“…the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire…” vs. 7

The refining process is use in metals. It is the process of heating the metal to high temperatures so that the impurities rise to the top. The impurities are then taken off and you are left with a more pure metal. The more you do this the more impurities are removed and the more pure the metal is.
Ex. Silver – Here is an ounce of silver I bought on line. It is valued by it’s purity and this ounce has a purity of .999. That is about as close to pure pure as you can get.

We in a sense go through a similar process. The trials of life and the difficulties are the testing ground or refinement process for us. Isaiah mentions this in Isaiah 48:10:

“See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” Isaiah 48:10

The more of the impurities we get out of our life, the more pure our faith can be. Here is the problem; we sin. We are different from the metal in that we can be refined by trials and draw closer to God but sin continually creeps in. That is why I say this is a continual process. It’s not a bad thing, it’s difficult, hard, not fun, but a necessary process for us.

• Believing in the Unseen
Another practice that is important for us is understanding that what we believe in is not always what is seen but many times is unseen. Peter says in verse 8:

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him…” vs. 8

Part of the mystery of our faith is that we believe in what is not seen. Peter was an eyewitness to Jesus. He had seen Jesus but he realized that not everyone did see Jesus and there was a new generation of believers who had not seen Jesus. He is making the argument for us that Jesus is no less real because we have not seen him. If you recall when Thomas doubted and need to see Jesus in order to believe Jesus said that it was good that Thomas believed but he said blessed are those who have not seen and believed. Paul adds some understanding to this in 2 Cor. 4:18:

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Cor. 4:18

Look around for a moment. What do you see? We see temporary things; our bodies, the structures, the instruments, etc. We tend to put worth into things we can see because they are right her present with us. But…what is of real value is what is unseen. For example, I live confidently in the love of my wife but it’s not something that I can see with my eyes. I feel it and know it in my heart. The same is true in our relationship with God. There is nothing tangible for us to see his love, his care, his protection, but we have to know it, feel it, and believe it in our heart until the day when we do see him and it all becomes visible to us.
Ex. The first time a groom sees his bride at the wedding.

• A Visible Faith
The final practice that Peter relates to us in this passage is that though our faith is invisible, it can be visible to others. Notice his words in verse 8:

“…even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy…” vs. 8b

So to unravel this a bit, we believe and have faith in what is invisible and unseen but the way we live makes our faith visible to others. This is actually a really neat play on words that Peter gives to us. Our invisible faith is visible to others because God fills us with…inexpressible and glorious joy. Here is the concept Peter is relating to us, this joy is so great that there are not words that are able to describe it. This is no ordinary joy. This is not just being really happy. This is far beyond description. Peter does give us a glimpse of how this joy expresses itself in our daily lives in verse 7:

“These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith…may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” vs. 7

This joy comes out in our
-Praises – the things we say, we sing, and we write.
-Glory – when we hold God in high esteem
-Honor – Respect and admiration, and by living with high moral standards of behavior
Ex. the people we know in our lives who live this out: Mike, Doug, Margie, etc.

The End Result
So let’s wrap this up by understanding what the end result of all this is, it is told to us in verse 9:

“…for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” vs. 9

The result is the promise of salvation and the kingdom of God come to us. We did not understand the idea of the kingdom of God until Christ came; he brought it to us. The great news is that you don’t have to wait til you die to experience it. It happens now. You can start now. Jesus promised that if we seek him and his kingdom we can experience this inexpressible joy now. Matthew 6:33:

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matt. 6:33

Don’t wait to have this joy. Experience it now. Start now. You will have trials, set- backs, difficulties but you can also have a inexpressible joy from your faith.

Living Hope
1 Peter 1:3-5
“In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope…” vs. 3b

8 yr. old Signs with the Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday (4/7/15) signed Georgia native Lake Bozman, an eight-year-old boy with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, to a one-day contract, per an official team release. Bozman was the recipient of the honor as part of “Bert’s Big Adventure,” a non-profit organization that provides families with children suffering with chronic or terminal illness with a five-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Disney World. Sadly, Bozman isn’t able to make the trip to the Magic Kingdom, so “Bert’s Big Adventure” and the Hawks teamed up to do something wonderful for the brave boy and his family as a replacement. With the assistance of Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer and team CEO Steve Koonin, Bozman instead was treated to a VIP experience by the Atlanta NBA team. The youngster was one of 14 kids selected for this year’s “Big Adventure” and traveled from his home in Kennesaw on Monday to the studios of “The Bert Show,” a nationally syndicated radio show, where he was informed of his upcoming Hawks experience. Bozman and mom Anna, dad Travis, brother Trindon and sister Cambree received private transportation on Tuesday to Philips Arena where the youngster was signed to a one-day contract. He also received an official team jersey, took in the team’s warm-ups before hosting the Phoenix Suns and toured the locker room before sitting in courtside seats for the game. Here are a few pictures of his experience. Here he is signing the contract and then the press conference afterward, another with the coach, here he is getting the autograph of a teammate, here he is at his seat on the bench, one at his locker, and then finally every athlete’s dream, one with the cheerleaders.

Established in 2002, Bert’s Big Adventure is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides a magical, all-expenses-paid, five-day journey to Walt Disney World® for children with chronic and terminal illnesses and their families. To qualify for Bert’s Big Adventure, children must be between the ages of 5 and 12, live in “The Bert Show” radio listening area, prove financial need and have never been to Walt Disney World®. Following the annual trip, Bert’s Big Adventure provides year-round support through initiatives such as the Reunion Adventures, the Fairy Godparent volunteer program and additional charitable services. The trip and programs create a community of families that establish lasting friendships with others facing similar challenges.

I love stories like this one. They are fun, creative, positive, and they bring a little joy into someone’s life who is going through a big struggle. I also think it gives them something to look forward to, some amount of achievement and a little hope for moving forward. We have just experienced an incredible event, Easter, the realization that Jesus conquered death and completed our salvation. That brings hope. Peter writes about that in 1 Peter and we are going to look at his words today from ch. 1 verse 3-5. If you are able, please stand as we read God’s Word.

Read Passage – 1 Peter 1:3-5
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

40 More Days
After the resurrection of Jesus, He didn’t just rise to be with God and that was it. No, there were some pretty incredible things that took place. First, he appears to Mary and Mary and the disciples, he interacts with them, eats with them, teaches them, and spends some time making sure everyone knew that he was alive and that things were different, God is in control and they were encouraged to go everywhere they could and spread the good news. Another great thing happens in Acts 1 is that as he is being taken away, he is blessing them. It seems like he is charging them what to do but he is actually blessing them.

But think of this as well; here is Peter, the one who denied him, turned his back on him in his darkest hour, and he has every reason to feel he is unworthy of Jesus time and forgiveness. Yet, Jesus appears to him, spends time with him teaching him and encouraging him, and then blesses him. That speaks volumes to us about our relationship with God. He does that for Peter and he does that for us as well.

The Reason and Theme of His Message
Now we have this great book of 1 Peter. Peter wants to really make sure the Jews understand the gospel fully and recognize that Jesus really was the Son of God. He want s them to understand that salvation is through Jesus. That is his theme – salvation. But he also wants to prepare them. For what? Because he knows better than anybody that when they do accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, the can expect to suffer. That is his reason for writing the book. He wants to make sure they know they will be persecuted. They will suffer. But it is all worth it when we realize what Jesus did for each of us.

The Benefits of New Birth
Peter starts with a concept that is essential to understanding who God is; mercy. So he starts this important message in verse 3 by saying:

“In his great mercy he has given us new birth…” vs. 3b

Mercy is: kind or forgiving treatment of someone who could be treated harshly, kindness or help given to people who are in a very bad or desperate situation,
compassion shown to an offender, and a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion.

Peter understands mercy because he has experienced it. He’s felt it. Not only did he feel the forgiveness of God and the release of the guilt, he had to forgive himself, put the part of his life behind him and be willing to move forward. It’s a funny thing about actually experiencing something like that (mercy), you want other people to have the same experience. You want others to have that joy, peace and love that you feel. When you get to that point, you grasp how deep and full God’s love for you is, an you realize that there are benefits to new birth, to accepting the work of Jesus on the cross and his victory over death, and the free gift of salvation that God provides for us.

1. Living Hope
The first benefit is that you experience a living hope. Peter writes in verse 3:

“In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” vs. 3

Sometimes people mistake hope for something impossible that can’t happen, happening. But notice a few things about this verse:
1. Underline “into a living hope.” Peter felt great despair when Christ was crucified. He, in a sense, saw his hope die. But, when he sees the risen Christ, he now knows that this hope is different than any hope the world can offer. This is a living hope. A hope that since Christ lives again, we live again.
Ill. Man’s desire to find something to combat death and live longer. i.e. the fountain of youth, a magical formula, etc.
2. Second, underline ”the resurrection of Jesus Christ” How do we know Jesus really rose again? There were eyewitnesses. Peter, the disciples, the men on the road to Emmaus, etc.

Now let me follow this up with a passage form 1 Tim. 4:10:

“That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God…” 1 Tim. 4:10

Again, underline “the living God.” We serve the living God. Let me illustrate this by showing you a few pictures:
Here is a picture of the grave of the Confucius
Here is a picture of the grave of the Buddha
Here is a picture of the grave of the Mohammad
Here is a picture of the grave of the Bahá’u’lláh

I think you get the idea. You know what is kind of funny? We don’t have a tomb for Christ. According to early Christian sources the Church of the Holy Sepulchre occupies the location where Jesus is said to have been entombed. A second site claimed by a group of Protestants says it’s a place just outside of Jersulem called the Garden Tomb. The truth is, we don’t have one because we don’t need one. Like other religious leaders, he’s not dead. No tomb is needed.

When you don’t have this hope, you are trying to earn your salvation. When you have to earn your salvation you are on the spot every day. Every day you have to do enough good things to get to heaven. That is tiresome. That is exhausting. That’s not hope, that uncertainty.

2. An Inheritance
The second benefit of new birth is that we have an inheritance. Verse 4 says:

“…and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” vs. 4

Just a quick reminder; an inheritance is something you gain when someone dies. No other religion offers an inheritance. They promise life. They promise wealth. They promise lots of things, but not an inheritance. Jesus died. If he didn’t, we wouldn’t be offered an inheritance. He died but rose again. So putting these first two points together is that we have a living inheritance. Jesus died, rose again, and now we share in the inheritance with him. We are his co-heirs (Rom. 8:17). So we gain everything that the Son of God gains as well. We don’t go to an empty nothingness or state of bliss but to be with God and we gain a home, food, etc. all that can never spoil, fade or perish. Now we have a sign that this is true and we find that in Eph. 1:13-14:

“When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession…” Eph. 1:13-14

I know I have had you underline a lot today but would you do it one more time? Underline “marked with a seal.” You have an identity marker on you that shows you have taken Jesus as Savior and Lord and you can now be identified by the Holy Spirit that lives in you. That is your deposit as it says in the verse.
Ex. Think about making a deposit at a bank (for our sake say WFB). You go down and put money into an account and you are now identified with WFB. When you received Jesus as Savior and Lord God makes a deposit in you, the Holy Spirit, and that identifies you with Him. It’s a guarantee that you belong.

3. A Shield of Power
Finally a third benefit of our new birth is that we gain a shield of power. Verse 5 says:

“…who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. vs. 5

This is great news. It means you don’t have to depend on your own power. Our power is limited. Our power is not sufficient for what we need to get through life. Our power is probably not enough to stop Satan’s ploys to lure us away. But you have additional power. You have his power. Let me give it to you in picture form from Eph. 6:16:

“Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” Eph. 6:16

Here’s the picture. When men of ancient times went to war they carried shields. We still use shields today but most armies use natural shields like buildings, etc. as shields. You have this big shield that stands in front of you and stops anything that gets thrown your way. You just have to trust the shield. I am not talking about some little round metal thing that can barely stop a small rock. No, I am talking about a full body, head to toe, shield that can absorb anything thrown your way, including flaming arrows.
Ill. It might look like this (show picture)

Your shield is big enough, strong enough, and durable enough, to stop anything that comes your way. You just have to use it. Could you imagine having such a protection but then not using it? It would be like walking into war and not taking it with you or just leaving it down next to you. It’s there, but it’s not going to do it’s job if you don’t trust it and rely on it and use it!

So how do you get that? Great question.

The Eighteen Benedictions
There is a great tradition the Jewish people of this time had. Let me explain it and challenge you to use that same thing in your life.

Peter had learned in synagogue as a young boy how to pray and the importance of prayer. A typical Jewish prayer was called the Shemoneh Esreh which means the 18 benedictions which was a series of blessings to God. That’s how he starts this book. Notice the start of our passage in verse 3:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” vs. 3a

Two notes about this.
1. When you start this way you are inviting God into the situation or that part of your life. You acknowledge that you want him there and are trusting him.
2. It changes our focus. When you focus on the good things, the blessings, the gifts of your life the bad, hard, and tough situations tend to take a back seat and not be so difficult.
Remember, Peter is writing this book because he knows that those who accept Jesus as Savior and Lord will face tough times, will face persecutions.

Our prayers need to have more blessing to God in them.

Short Prayers
The following are short prayers based on Scripture. They are very useful in setting the tone for a time with God, and for thinking thoughts based on Scripture.

Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.
But you are the true God, the living God, the one only living and true God, and the eternal King.
This is the message we have heard of you, and declare it to be true: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings? Who is like the LORD among the sons of the mighty? You, LORD, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.
There is not any creature that has an arm like God’s, or can thunder with a voice like his?
You are God our Maker, and teach us more than the beasts of the earth and make us wiser than the birds of the sky.
Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.

The Finishing Touch
John 19:28-30 & Luke 24:1-8
“Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” vs. 30
“He is not here; he is risen!” Luke 24:6a

Unfinished Business
I have a few pictures of things around my house that I would like to show you. These are actual pictures of things I took with my iphone yesterday.
-This is a frame for a hammock that sits on the side of our house
-This is a concrete slab in our back yard where I had hoped to have a Jacuzzi
-This is the doorway between our laundry pantry and the hallway
-This is the base of the wall in our bedroom
-This is a stack of tile that we got to tile our bathroom off the master bedroom
-This is a night stand that I am refinishing for my daughter

Can you tell me what these six things have in common, besides that they are all in my house? (Wait for answer) Now you know I work hard, right? You do know that don’t you? Ok, I hope so. So the thing they have in common is that they are unfinished projects. They are things I have started and have not yet finished. It doesn’t mean I won’t, it just means that I have a list of things that I still need to get done. It’s pretty well documented that many of us have this same issue. Max Lucado, a Christian author and speaker said:

“Our human tendency is to quit too soon; our human tendency is to stop before we get to the finish line. Our inability to finish what we start is seen in the smallest things…” Max Lucado

The Apostle Paul hints at this as well. In 1 Corinthians Paul encourages us to run so we can finish and win the prize. Twice he tells us that he has “finished the race” which is an encouragement to us to do the same. Today is Easter Sunday and we have the opportunity to celebrate what Jesus Christ has done for us. Let’s look at the story one more time; one part from John’s perspective and one from Luke’s. If you are able, please stand as we read God’s Word.

Read Passage – John 19:28-42
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
John 20:1-8
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.

“It is finished” “Tetelestai”
It might be helpful for us to fully grasp one of the last things that Jesus said while he was on the cross. He uttered a phrase that we are familiar with, “It is finished.” It is also a term that the people of his time were familiar with as well. In English this is three word phrase. In Greek it is one word; “Tetelestai.” It is not a cry of desolation but more of an announcement of triumph. It was commonly used in different areas of their lives. For example:

• In Service
A servant would use this word when he completed a task. He would got the master and say “tetelestai” and the master would look at the job and say “well done.”

• In the Temple
The Jewish people would bring their sacrifice to be offered in the temple, the priest would look at it and reply “tetelestai” meaning “it is perfect.”

• In Sales
To a merchant, when someone bought something from you in the market, you would reply “tetelestai” meaning “it is paid in full.”

• In Creativity
An artist would complete his creation and claim “tetelestai” meaning, “it is done,” or “it is perfect” just the way I want it to look.

We Celebrate Easter because Jesus Finished…
There is an connection between what Jesus said on the cross and what happens in the resurrection that really makes today, Easter, what it is. The resurrection could not have happened unless Jesus had died. We celebrate Easter because we recognize that Jesus was able to do for us what we could not do. He finished his purpose in providing the sacrifice that was needed to atone for our sin and to conquer and accomplish things that we could not. We celebrate Easter because Jesus finished. But what exactly did he finish? Let’s look at that.

• Satan’s Attempt to Rule
First, Jesus finished Satan’s attempt to rule. Since the time of man’s first sin in the Garden of Eden, Satan has attempted to rule both the world and man. He disguises himself as the real ruler but in the end is exposed as a fraud. Satan never has claimed to be able to conqueror death or provide salvation. 2 Cor. 11:14 says:

“For Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” 2 Cor. 11:14

One of the places we see Satan masquerade himself as ruler is in Matthew 3 where he tempts Jesus. Remember he takes him to the top of the temple and says that if he bows down and worships him, he will give Jesus all the kingdoms he can see. Satan is always pretending to be in charge, pretending to rule, but never will be able to.

This is scene again in the scene at the cross. Satan must have thought: I have finally won. I’ve done it, I’ve taken Jesus down. Not so fast.
Ex. The Chronicles of Narnia. Aslan has been captures and tied up. Susan and Lucy sneak up to the place that Aslan is being held and can only watch in horror as he is put to death. All their dreams, all their hopes, everything seems crushed at that point. At that point as well, Satan believes he has won. This would appear to be Susan and Lucy’s darkest hour as they look over the lifeless body of Aslan. But we know the story doesn’t end there. Strange things begin to happen. Mice come running up the altar and begin to chew the ropes. In an instant, Aslan is no l onger dead but resurrected. He is alive. He is Risen.

The good news is that Satan’s attempt to rule is tetelastai, finished at the cross. Christ is risen. Satan is uncovered for who he really is, a masquerader. We also know that eventually Satan will be subdued forever. The Book of Revelation tells us so. It says in Rev. 20:10:

“And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur…” Rev. 20:10
Satan is thrown in the Lake of Burning fire and then it is sealed. His farce is over. Jesus It is finished is completed in Satan’s being subdued and thwarts his attempt to rule. His attempt is done.

• Our Salvation
A second we celebrate today is our salvation. Until the death and resurrection of Christ, salvation was not finished, complete. As was stated earlier, we could never atone for our sin. There is no amount of money, no good deeds, nothing that could help us right our relationship with God. We try, but it is not possible. Yet, the world still believes that somehow it is.

We live in a time when people are convinced that we have control; we have the ability to control our lives and our destiny. The other religions of the world teach that it is all about you, all about what you can do to set your course, you can do the things necessary to somehow live forever.

Ex. Muhammad Ali in an interview with Reader’s Digest (December, 2001) revealed his religious philosophy.
“What does your faith mean to you?” He answered, “[It] means [a] ticket to heaven. One day we’re all going to die, and God’s going to judge us, [our] good and bad deeds. [If the] bad outweighs the good, you go to hell; if the good outweighs the bad, you go to heaven.” He went on to elaborate: “”[I’m] thinking about the judgment day and how you treat people wherever you go. Help somebody through charity, because when you do, it’s been recorded.” This former boxing champ clearly believes in a “works” salvation. He says that God will weigh the good things and the bad things we’ve done and whichever outweighs the other will determine whether we go to heaven or hell. We should do good to other people since this will determine our destiny.

This is Mohammad Ali’s view but many other believe it too. In our culture today we are being bombarded with this kind of philosophy. In many ways, Christianity is counter culture. It’s not about what we do but what Jesus has done for us. John 1:7 says:

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” John 1:7

Notice that salvation is based on the work of Jesus Christ. The shedding of his blood is tetelastai, it is finished. But it goes on, 1 Peter 1:3 Says:

“In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 1 Peter 1:3

Jesus resurrection is the victory over death. We celebrate Easter because he died and shed his blood but on the third day he rose again.

• Conquering Death
And finally, third, until the death and resurrection of Christ, death appeared to have been a conqueror force. Death is scary. Death is a difficult thing for us to understand and to accept. Some people believe when you die that that is all there is. Wow would that be a tragedy. You might as well live for the moment. But here is why we celebrate today. Christ conquered death. He died a death we should have died. Another phrase that Jesus utters on the cross is “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? “ Matt. 27:46 Jesus feels at this point the ultimate separation from God. That separation is what we would have felt and experienced. But we live in a new living hope because of his tetelestai. He finished what we could not and because of that, though we die in the earthly body, we do not experience that separation from God. Romans 5:8-9 say:

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath.”
Romans 5:8-9

We are not separated from God in our death nor do we experience the wrath of God. No, as Paul said that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Let me follow that up with 1` Cor. 15:55-57:

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gave us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 15:55-57

So we see that Christ finished on the cross the sting of death and the victory that death seemed to hold over us. Christ conquered death and the sting that should have been ours.

Switching Places
So, just in case you’ve missed it, or you might be thinking, okay , so what. We believe that there is great significance in Jesus saying “It is finished” and then in his resurrection, we have new life and salvation. In a sense, Jesus switched places with us. The Marty and Mary went to the tomb looking for Jesus but they seem some angels and they say to them in verse 5b-6a:

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he is risen!” Luke 24:5b-6a

It is finished and He is Risen complete the work and purpose of why Jesus, God with us, came to earth. It should change our life because his work completes our life as well when we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus is Lord. Time of prayer and lead into communion.

Communion

Welcoming Jesus
Luke 19:28-44
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” vs. 38

Palm Sunday Around the World
Today is a pretty neat day when you think About it.

Rome, Italy
At 9.30 a.m. on the morning of Palm Sunday in Rome the Pope, Benedict the 16th at present, appears in St Peter’s Square to celebrate mass and take part in one of the great Easter traditions in Rome – the solemn but very colorful procession of palms and the blessing of the faithful. This is a long ceremony which you should expect to last about three hours. Cardinals, Bishops and priests as well as the Pope and his closest clergy advisors all take part in a lengthy procession which winds through the Square to the altar in front of the Basilica, where mass is celebrated.
Because palms are not readily available in Italy they are often replaced in Easter traditions with branches from olive trees which symbolize both local olive culture and peace.

Columbia, South America
Palm Sunday begins with mass at church and the blessing of the palms, then they usually have a procession, commemorating Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem where Jesus comes riding on a donkey while the participants salute him with palms. These palms become the dark ashes for next year’s start of lent or Cuaresma on Miércoles de Ceniza or Ash Wednesday.

Africa
Customarily, worshippers in many churches receive palm branches on Palm Sunday. There have been, however, historical situations wherein it has been either impossible or impractical to acquire palm branches; adequate substitutes (e.g. Yew tree branches) were found and utilized in those instances. In some cases, contemporary worshippers will reenact the joyous celebration of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem by waving of palm branches and singing songs of celebration as central parts of the Palm Sunday liturgy. Sometimes this is accompanied by a processional into the church. In other settings, there will be the distribution of palm branches or leaves in their natural form or, more often, fashioned in the shape of a cross or loop in order to be pinned onto each worshipper that day. For many churchgoers, the lush greenery that typically fills the church sanctuary during this period of the Lenten season, especially the sight of palms and Easter lilies, has a wonderfully transformative effect in terms of embracing the concepts of rebirth and renewal as central to Lent and ultimately Easter. The liturgical color for the Lenten season in most Protestant traditions is purple, which is used until Easter Sunday. Catholic tradition, however, the color for Palm Sunday is red, representing not only the color of the church but also being used for Pentecost as well as remembering the martyrs of the church. Since it symbolizes shed blood, the incorporation of red is also used on Palm Sunday to commemorate and reflect upon the death of Jesus .

England
Many churches provide congregation members with small crosses made from palm leaves at special Palm Sunday services. The priests or ministers bless these palms, which are also used to make the Ash Wednesday ashes for the next year. Many churches distribute palms in the shape of a cross. Churches may also have a procession that involves people singing songs and waving palm leaves. Some churches give people pax cakes at the end of a service. Children’s activities on or around this event may include story telling about biblical events relating to Palm Sunday and crafts such as making palm crosses. Palm Sunday also has the nick name ‘Fig Sunday’ because Christ had wanted to eat some when travelling to Jerusalem (Mark 11: 12-14). Figs were once traditionally eaten on this day.

Read Passage – Luke 19:28-44
28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. 37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” 40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” 41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Prepare the Way
In Luke 19 we see Jesus about ready to embark on the what is to be the last week of his earthly life. It’s not really explained to us but Jesus knows what is about to happen to him and that there are things in place for everything to happen the way it needs to; notice verses 29-30:

“As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you…” vs.29-30

Jesus is preparing to celebrate the Passover feast with and embark on the last week of his earthly ministry. He sends two disciples ahead to prepare the way for him and to get the donkey he will be riding on. One thing that we see time and time again in the bible is that when has a God plan for something, everything is set in place for that plan to succeed.
Ex. God is going to send rain so he prepares Noah with an ark, Abraham is to make a sacrifice and when the time comes there is a ram caught in a bush neatr by for him to make that sacrifice, God wants Israel to gain land and he throws armies not chaos and there were times they didn’t have to fight, etc.

Ready to Go
And…in our story today the disciples find out that when God’s plan is set in motion, everything is ready to go just as he planned it; verse 32:

“Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them.” vs. 32

Everything was ready to go and they just needed to follow his instructions which they did.
Point: I think this is a point that still rings true for us today, when God has something for us, and he does promises us things, the right thing will be in place and ready to go when we need it.
Ex. The right job, the right finances, etc. It’s not coincidence or chance, it’s God’s plan unfolding right before our eyes.

There is something unusual about the story too. Did you catch what Luke said about the donkey’s owners? That’s right, evidently this donkey was owned by more than one owner. Donkeys were expensive. Probably many people in there day might not be able to afford a good donkey. So they pooled their funds & bought this donkey. That is exactly what happens. They found the colt and untied it. And as they did, the owners rushed out to ask them what they are doing. They reply, “The Lord needs it.” Donkeys were prized possessions. They were means of transportation. They were beasts of burden, and they pulled the farmer’s plows. They did so many strenuous things that a man could not do by himself. So this donkey was a very valuable possession. Yet Jesus said, “Tell them ‘the Lord needs it.’” When they heard that, they gave it. And when they gave that donkey they were giving a valuable possession.

Recognizing Jesus as King
One thing that is fascinating about this story is the praise that the disciples of Jesus are shouting. Notice again that in verse 37 notes that the “whole crowd of disciples” were the ones shouting. Last week we noted that many, many disciples followed Jesus from place to place. You had the 12 disciples, then about 70 more or so that many believed followed him and then a whole crowd of woman as well. These disciples are the ones crying out and shouting in the story.

But the other thing that is really neat is that their praise is based on the prophecies and the fulfillment of them. You will see that in each part of the praise. Also, the praise has a current meaning to those disciples but a deeper one that has an impact for us too.

• Save, Rescue, Savior!
The first part of their praise is not found in our text written by Luke but it is found in the Matthew account of this same event. Matthew 21:9 says:

“Hosanna to the Son of David.” Matthew 21:9

Hosanna is a Hebrew term and it means save, rescue or Savior. It is only used in the Old testament that way and we find it in Psalm 118:25. The disciples and the Israelites were anticipating a Savior. But there idea of a Savior was one that would rescue them from those oppressive, horrible Romans. Remember our story last week where some of the disciples are arguing over who would sit at the right and left hand of Jesus. They are thinking her on earth. They had every reason to want to be freed from the oppression of the Romans and to see Israel restored to this great nation but they missed what Jesus real mission was. In their mind this was like a prep rally to coronate Jesus as their Savior. It’s like “Yeah! Israel is going to be restored and we have our rescuer and Savior right here.

Now this is a fulfillment of a prophecy given to Joseph in Matthew 1:21:

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

Joseph was told the mission of Jesus and now we are seeing it fulfilled here in Luke 19. The real meaning, the deeper aspect comes in the fulfillment of Matthew 1:21 at the end of the verse, to save us from our sin. They real issue is that we don’t need someone to save us from other oppressive, abusive people. We need someone to save us from our problem of sin and that was Jesus mission; to be that sacrifice that would save us from our sins, those things that separate us from God.

The great news about this is that we don’t have to keep trying to atone for the things that we have done wrong, Jesus takes care of all of that. His work frees us.

• The Kingdom of God
The second part of the praise we read in verse 38a of our passage:

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” vs. 38a

Jesus comes to bring God’s kingdom to earth. And notice that he comes in the name of the Lord. He comes with authority and power. Although the disciples were looking for an earthly kingdom, ab earthly kingdom can never satisfy or last. It is only God’s kingdom that will last. Again the disciples thought that Jesus would be that one who could re-establish the prominence and power that Israel experienced under David and Solomon. Unfortunately, it was their disobedience that led to their downfall and that kingdom would never be the same.

Again, this part of the praise is a fulfillment of and Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah from Isaiah 9:7:

Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” Is. 9:7

Jesus is in the earthly line of David from his mother Mary and from his earthly (not biological) father Joseph. This passage recognizes the covenant that God made with David that from hi line he will never fail to have someone to reign over his people. Jesus fulfills that forever. Notice it says in that verse that his reign will be from that time on and forever. To take this to a deeper level, we can live with the establishment of God’s kingdom through Jesus, forever. Daily we live with the words of Jesus “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”

For you and I that means we look to seeing God’s kingdom for eternity so the temporary setbacks and troubles here will not last.

• Shalom! Peace
The third way in which this praise is found in verse 38b where it says:

“Peace in heaven…” vs. 38b

It had been hundreds of years since the Israelites had known peace. Since the death of Solomon Israel had been in turmoil. It was their own doing but none the lies they didn’t really know peace. Now they recognize that Jesus bring peace. Of course the disciples are thinking this is peace from the romans but Jesus peace is much deeper and more satisfying. Jesus though, brings a different kind of peace. Remember Jesus words from John 14:27:

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” John 14:27

Although we want peace, peace from fighting, peace from turmoil, peace where everyone gets along; we see a different kind of peace that Jesus brings.
Ill. The beauty pageants where the announcer asks the young woman what she would like to bring to the world in their reign and what they would like to see and they answer: “World peace.”

The deeper meaning of this is that we can have a peace that Jesus talks about that the world can’t know. It’s that peace that no matter what happens, no matter what we face, we face it with the peace of God.
Ex. The disciples and what they would face and how they died.
Peter – widely believed to have been either beheaded or crucified (upside down) in Rome.

Matthew – beheaded.
John – boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil
Bartholomew – flayed to death by a whip.
Andrew – was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Greece.
Thomas – stabbed with a spear
Matthias – stoned and then beheaded.
Paul – tortured and then beheaded
James (son of Zebedee) was beheaded by King Herod in Palestine.
Philip was crucified.
James (son of Aphaeus) – thrown from the pinnacle of the temple at Jerusalem and dispatched with a club where he fell, or crucified or stoned.
Simon Peter was crucified upside down.
Jude was “cruelly put to death” by the Magi of Persia, or crucified.

• Glory To God
The final part of the praise comes in verse 38c and it says:

“…and glory in the highest!” vs. 38c

This seemed to be a time of great hope for those following Christ. They thought that Israel being reestablished as a worldly power would bring glory to God. They are anticipating their eminent victory over the Romans and in a great way, they want god to have glory for that. But they missed that Jesus was all about bringing glory to God.

In fact, remember in the story of Jesus birth the angels cry out from heaven and say: “Glory to God in the highest.” Jesus earthly mission is to bring glory to God. He even tells us that in John 17:4 where he says:

“I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.” John 17:4

Jesus was all about bringing glory to God. We need to have that same perspective.
Our lives reflect our love and commitment to God and people can see that. We should live in such a way that people see our love for God and how he has changed our lives.

Preparing For Easter
This is where we are challenged from this story; how are we preparing for Easter. Are we looking ahead and preparing our hearts or are we getting caught up in the glitz and glamour and excitement of Easter. The great thing is that we have 20/20 hindsight. We know what happened and the events that took place. So who do you identify with as you prepare for Easter next Sunday?

Here’s how a lot of people take the time to get ready; buying the right kind of plastic grass for their kids baskets, the baskets themselves, stuffing eggs, dying eggs, buying chocolate, candy, and make sure you get the right clothes too. P.S. Pastels work great. Get the house ready, the traditional food, and all that goes along with the feasts we prepare.

What if you took a different approach to prepare for Easter and made sure you put in as much time getting your spiritual life and heart as ready as you do everything else? How about inviting a few people to church? How about attending our Good Friday service? How about making sure your heart is ready to remember the price that Christ paid for you and truly take in the whole meaning of what we celebrate. Preparing spiritually makes next Sunday a real celebration.